Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:
Other than driving through the panhandle on my way to Phoenix as a kid-I've never been in Texas.
As you know though I've spent quite a bit of time in L.A. And yea I like it there, a lot. BUT I wouldn't say native Californians are really any less "hickish" than Southerners or Midwesterners-after all most Californians are first or second generation middle-America. I love the O.C. or SD County or the South Bay (i.e. Torrence) but I'd hardly call those places sophisticated. And even in the Valley and the Westside it's not the same as 10 years ago. For every guy like you or me in Encino there's a Persian MD, a Russian flim-flam artist and a Chinese businessman. Nothing wrong with that but hardly the zenith of style. So yes a family man can better create the SoCal "experience" these days in Phoenix, Austin or Atlanta than he can in L.A. and at a fraction of the cost.
And as I'm sure you'd admit-L.A. isn't expensive because it's better than anywhere else-it's expensive in good areas because it's worse than anywhere else! L.A., Ventura and the O.C. are FILLED with inexpensive housing but the neighborhoods suck. Hence it costs a left lung in the nice areas because the cost of separation has pigeonholed everyone into about six zip-codes. For every 2.0mil tear down in Brentwood there's a perfectly nice 400k craftsman in Monrovia. But whereas a generation ago an Anglo would be right at home in the SGV these days it's all Asian.
Same deal in Montecito, eh? If half of SB wasn't barrio then one wouldn't need to pay up for Montecito.